Feb 04, 2010The declining water levels in major rivers Brahmaputra and Teesta much ahead of the dry season is lowering the underground water levels and also affecting cultivation in India’s north east and Bangladesh. Environmentalists fear negative changes in overall climate will make the region more prone to calamities.
[Climate change]
[South Asia]
[Rivers]
[India]
[Livelihoods]

Feb 08, 2010A riverbed cleaning drive initiated by the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority is becoming completely ineffective with tonnes of waste being disposed into the waters everyday. Environmentalists fear that unless urgent action is taken to prevent dumping rubbish into the rivers, it is going to remain a lifeless pit.
[Environment]
[South Asia]
[Waste]
[Bangladesh]
[Rivers]

Feb 12, 2010At the Jaipur birding fair, two experts from UK share experiences of cleaning the river Thames in London, which remained polluted for years due to the industrialisation and rapid urbanisation. They opine that with collective effort the polluted rivers of India could be cleaned within 20 years.
[India]
[South Asia]
[Rivers]
[Action Plan]
[Pollution]

Mar 22, 2012The Supreme Court's recently issued order to implement the scheme of interlinking rivers may seem essential and appealing; but according to environment activist Sunita Narain this proposal is nothing but a facade and takes away from the real issue of providing clean water to all.
[Environment]
[India]
[Conflict]
[Rivers]

May 06, 2011The Polavaram dam on the Godavari in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh could displace 400,000 people and submerge vast forestland. Richard Mahapatra from Down to Earth investigates the massive violation of rights and regulations by the state government on the ground.
[India]
[Forests]
[Rivers]
[Environment]
[Aboriginal]
[South Asia]

Jul 02, 2012The recent floods in Assam have affected 27 districts and a population of 21,06,280, according to government sources. The flood has left 77 people dead. Around 1,13,830 people have been evacuated so far.
[Disaster]
[India]
[Emergency relief]
[Rivers]
[Flood]
[Asia]
[Disasters]

Jul 16, 2012Normal life has been affected in India's north-eastern state of West Bengal due to continuous rain. Rain has also inundated many areas in Jalpaiguri and several houses were also damaged. Landslides were also reported from Kurseong and some areas near Siliguri were also submerged.
[Flood]
[South Asia]
[India]
[Asia]
[Rivers]

Dec 03, 2009The World Bank will be extending a loan of $1bn to India over the next five years to clean up the Ganges, one of the most polluted rivers in the world. If pollution is not controlled, it will severely impact the lives of 400 million people living along its banks.
[Environment]
[South Asia]
[Rivers]
[India]
[Pollution]

Nov 20, 2008Is it a lifeline of development or an environmental disaster? This is a question that perpetually stalks India’s multi-billion dollar Sardar Sarovar Project on the Narmada River. A discussion held in the Indian capital today undertook a cost-benefit analysis to determine development effectiveness and social justice.
[Development]
[India]
[Rivers]
[Livelihoods]
[Environmental activism]
[South Asia]

Feb 05, 2009Swedish scientists have found some of the highest levels of pharmaceutical pollution on the outskirts of a city in southern India. It is alleged that factories producing drugs for western markets could be the culprits in damaging wildlife and ecosystems in the region.
[Environment]
[South Asia]
[Rivers]
[India]
[Pollution]

Feb 09, 2009South Asia’s crucial transboundary river basins are depleting due to climate change, overuse and mismanagement of water resources, warns a new UN report. To avoid further freshwater-related vulnerability, the report calls for urgent policy attention and need for improved cooperation between countries in the region.
[Climate change]
[Waste]
[South Asia]
[Rivers]

Feb 11, 2009India's biggest river is slowly turning saline, says a local study on climate change. Observing a rare growth of mangroves along the river's banks in the eastern part of the country, the study claims the large flow of sea water into the river could turn adjoining agricultural lands barren.
[Environment]
[Climate change]
[South Asia]
[India]
[Rivers]

Apr 22, 2009The Odisha River Conference was organised in Sambalpur district of eastern Indian state from April 18-20. A declaration has been adopted that calls for saving the rivers and giving communities their traditional rights over them.
[Environment]
[South Asia]
[Civil society]
[India]
[Rivers]

Jul 14, 2009Pollution has made the oxygen level dip so low in the four major rivers encircling Dhaka that no aquatic life can possibly thrive in them. Toxic sludge and other harmful chemicals are to be blamed for the biological death of these rivers.
[Environment]
[South Asia]
[Health]
[Bangladesh]
[Rivers]

Aug 05, 2010WWF India has launched its publication Vulnerability Assessment of People, Livelihoods and Ecosystems in the Ganga Basin, in alliance with HSBC's Climate Change Partnership. The report brings out the susceptibility and adaptive capacity of lives in the region while facing a changing climate.
[Climate change]
[South Asia]
[India]
[Rivers]

Sep 28, 2010The Lower Subansiri hydroelectric project in Arunachal Pradesh, northeast India, has been built on a major fault zone, paying no heed to safety norms. Local inhabitants fear that the network of dams will rob the place of its rich indigenous culture and ecology.
[Environment]
[South Asia]
[NGO]
[India]
[Rivers]

Aug 20, 2010Despite plenty of water available in the Amazon, there is lack of potable water as it is contaminated with sewage and waste. To add to the woes, the installation of the Belo Monte hydroelectric station, which will divert the water flow, is expected to pose serious threats to villages.
[Water]
[South America]
[Waste]
[Sanitation]
[Rivers]

Oct 08, 2010Toxic red sludge from an alumina plant has reoprtedly “extinguished” all life in one of the rivers in Hungary . The sludge is now feared to have reached the Danube and may be catastrophic to its ecology.
[EU]
[Environment]
[Rivers]
[Hazardous Chemicals]

Feb 19, 2011The proposed Belo Monte dam in Brazil, the third largest project of its kind is facing protests from environmental groups. The government has granted approval for a large forest area to be cleared to make way for the project which might displace thousands of people and threaten the survival of indigenous groups in the area, the groups warn.
[Environment]
[Aboriginal]
[Rivers]
[Activism]
[Latin America]

May 07, 2011Europe’s largest bank, Santander, has suspended its funding for Brazil’s dams Santo Antonio and Jirau being built on the Madeira River over the possibility of adversely affecting the indigenous population. The move is expected to strengthen the voice of the tribes protesting against the dam.
[Environment]
[Aboriginal]
[Rivers]
[Latin America]

Mar 14, 2011Majuli in the northern Indian state of Assam has been endorsed by the government for protection under UNESCO's world heritage fund. Home to tribal communities, this largest river-island in the country is vulnerable to the floods waters of the river Brahmaputra and changing cultural mores.
[Government]
[India]
[Rivers]
[Environment]
[South Asia]
[United Nations]

May 10, 2011The World Bank-financed Luhri Hydel project on river Sutlej in Himachal Pradesh has come under the scanner following public protests over its alleged impacts on the environment and the all-important apple crop.
[Environment]
[South Asia]
[India]
[Rivers]

Sep 01, 2011US officials are assessing whether to finance the ambitious Daimer Bhasha dam on the Indus river. US backing to the huge project will help reset currently strained relations between the two countries by changing local perceptions of Washington for the better.
[Development]
[Pakistan]
[Energy]
[Rivers]

Mar 02, 2012One of the biggest rivers in India, the Brahmaputra river has dramatically almost dried up in the North-Eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, with the state government suspecting a Chinese dam behind this radical change.
[Environment]
[India]
[China]
[Rivers]

Mar 05, 2012The apprehensions expressed by the state Government of Arunachal Pradesh regarding possible diversion of the Brahmaputra by China is not correct and ‘devoid of facts’, clarified Ministry of Water Resources, India, in a press release.
[South Asia]
[India]
[Rivers]

Mar 06, 2012According to recent reports by scientists, Godavari river, the largest river in southern India, is on the verge of losing its water owing to severe impacts posed by climate change.
[Climate change]
[South Asia]
[India]
[Rivers]

Mar 13, 2012Magsaysay award winner and water activist Rajendra Singh along with three other members of a panel to save river Ganges have resigned over government's gross negligence towards worsening state of the national river.
[Environmental activism]
[South Asia]
[India]
[Rivers]

Mar 19, 2012A study by Delhi-based research organisation, TERI, says that industrial toxins after having polluted groundwater and soil have found entry into the food chain posing serious health threats to people consuming vegetables grown on the river bed. TERI says despite government efforts, industrial effluents and untreated sewage flow into the river.
[Environment]
[India]
[Rivers]
[Health]
[Pollution]